Ludhiana, June 9
The word ‘tumour’ strikes terror in the minds of people. According to Dr Yashbir Dewan, Prof and Head of Neurosurgery (Christian Medical College), a tumour is an abnormal growth of cells . It can either be benign or malignant. The malignant is the one that causes cancer. Doctors are able to tell the status of a tumour only after a biopsy of the tumour is performed.

In the West, says Dr Dewan, where most of the people have medical health insurance, any person suffering from headaches will go for investigative tests like a CT scan to determine the cause of headaches. However, when one suffers from a chest pain in our country, one will go in for an ECG. Similarly for persistent cough, people will have a chest X-ray taken, but headaches are generally ignored. Sometimes, a simple headache can be a symptom of a tumour.

A headache should never be neglected if it is not relieved after medication and one gets relief only after vomiting. This kind of headache occurs in the mornings. Uncontrolled vomiting, along with a headache, is also a pointer to a probable tumour. Double vision could be an ominous sign. No one knows why tumours are formed. Certain factors like exposure to radiation can precipitate the growth of tumours. Sometimes some tumours have a genetic base.

In the above-mentioned symptoms, the individual must visit a neurosurgeon or a neurologist at the earliest. Tumours can occur at any age. However, Dr Dewan says that types of tumours vary among the young and old people. The neurosurgeon, through the CT scan can know the location of the tumour. If the tumour is found to be benign and is accessible, it can be operated upon with good results.

Dr Dewan, who had gone to study more about skull-based surgery to Barrows’ Institute, Arizona, Phoniex, USA, said, “As far as the quality of surgeons is concerned, we are at par with them. But they are much more advanced in technology and that is a setback for neuro-surgeons in India. They have not seen the size of tumours that we witness in our patients. One thing is sure, if we do not advance in technology, we cannot progress. The government and private hospitals have to spend a lot of money to upgrade the operational facilities. In the USA early diagnosis leads to better success rate.”

The Neurosurgery Department of CMC had given a telephone number 98140-21111 for trauma victims of road accidents. The concept being that an injured person would be picked up by ambulance and brought to the neurosurgery ward of CMC for immediate attention. But the details have to be worked out as yet. The city has to be divided ‘district wise’ and social service clubs and other voluntary organisations have to chip in. It will take 6 months to 8 months to get the whole operation organised. But society has to participate actively to make the whole thing a success. However, patients who have undergone treatment for tumours find this telephonic service useful as they can contact the doctor in case of problems and doctor can suggest corrective measures.

He said that it was unfortunate that many patients gave up treatment when they were on the threshold of recovery. Radio therapy is essential in the treatment of tumours and many a times, the patient has to return for chemotherapy. The treatment can cause epilepsy and patients undergo severe depression. So patients stop chemotherapy due to lack of awareness. Dr Dewan said that concept of counselling was almost non-existent, which was important for tumour patients.